Symzonia: Voyage of Discovery

On the 10th of October we approached the principal harbour of South Georgia, which I had no intention to enter unless there was an appearance of an unusual abundance of seal on the coast. When near the harbour we discovered two ships lying there with their topmasts struck. This was evidence that there was no chance for us in that quarter. I now told my officers and people that I thought it useless to contend with those already in possession of the island for the few seal it could afford, and thought it most advisable to proceed in search of Sandwich land; where, no doubt, we could speedily obtain a full cargo of skins, if we could find it, of which I expressed great confidence. I strengthened their hopes by assuring them that there was no doubt in my mind of the existence of extensive bodies of land within the antarctic circle, which quarter had scarcely been looked into by Christian navigators, and that my opinion was founded upon the fact that Cook, and other navigators, had seen large bodies of ice in latitude 70° to 71° south. This fact, I said, indicated the existence of land, because ice could not form in a deep salt sea uninterrupted by land, and agitated by the violent winds and currents of the polar region. I urged that we had but to persevere in our researches in high southern latitudes, to make sure of finding land, which would yield us ample fortunes, for all southern islands, when first discovered, were found to abound in seal. Mr. Slim, the third mate, expressed some apprehension, that great danger might be encountered in high southern latitudes; that if we found land, the ice might close upon us and prevent our return to our country, as it once served a colony in Greenland. I was not much pleased with this. I have no patience with an officer who suggests doubts and difficulties when I have a grand project in view. I marked him, but at the same time pretended to listen to his observations, as objections of great weight, and then proceeded to remove them from the minds of the officers and people, by advancing the following reasons for my belief that the supposition of extreme cold at the pole was altogether gratuitous.